We, the Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom – US Section (WILPF US), join with people pouring into the streets in cities the world over, to stand up for the Palestinian people of Gaza and the Occupied Palestinian Territories. We must continue to speak out until the onslaught stops and the illegal occupation is finally ended.
Along with many individuals and groups, we stand for:
- A Cease Fire
- Negotiations by All Parties
- Multinational Humanitarian Aid to Gaza
- Accountability Required of the US and Israel
WILPF US demands a cease fire negotiated by all parties, including Hamas, the duly elected representative of Gaza and recently joined with the West Bank in a Unity Government. It must not be merely a surrender forced upon the victims. Negotiations must be ongoing until there is an end to the illegal occupation and hostile military actions on both sides. Hamas has offered a viable Ten Year Truce proposal which has been ignored. (http://mondoweiss.net/2014/07/report-israel-conditions.html) We believe that all will benefit from a cease fire, an end to the blockade and eventual peace agreement, whether they be Israeli or Palestinian.
This is war; it is an invasion. Palestine has no army, no air force, no navy, and no weapons to compare with those of Israel. Instead Gazans are a population living in a constant state of siege, having been driven from their homes into decades long refugee camps, where they have been denied sufficient food, potable water, electricity and medical supplies ongoing. They are now driven from even those homes when there is no more place to go.
The denial of human rights and human needs has yet again created a humanitarian crisis of death and destruction, the enormity of which is daily being documented for the world to see. The spokesman of UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs declared that there is no safe place in Gaza, and the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Navi Pillay, has said that, “There seems to be a strong possibility that International law has been violated, in a manner that could amount to war crimes.”
WILPF US demands that our US government immediately suspend military aid to Israel, and instead use our tax dollars for humanitarian aid to Gaza.
WILPF US urges that all nations calling for a cease fire will also join the call to give assistance to the Palestinian refugees.
WILPF US further demands that US military aid to Israel remain suspended pending investigation of violations of US and International Laws for crimes against Palestinian civilians with the weapons thus obtained.
The world has stood by and allowed these atrocities to happen again and again. No more